Vytenis Velykis

Vytenis Velykis (16 January 1874-14 May 1937) was a Lithuanian Bolshevik revolutionary.

Biography
Vytenis Velykis was born on 16 January 1874 in Panevezys, Russian Empire to a Lithuanian Jewish family. Velykis was raised in a secular household, and he was educated in St. Petersburg, learning how to become a glass factory foreman. Velykis became the head of the factory's labor union, and he took part in demonstrations for the rights of his coworkers. Velykis became a convinced Bolshevik, and he led protests in Panevezys during the Russian Revolution of 1917. After the revolution, Velykis became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, becoming the party's leader for the Panevezys glassware factory. In 1937, he was identified as an "old Bolshevik" by Joseph Stalin during the "Great Purge", and he was executed by firing squad on 14 May 1937 in a Siberian prison camp.